Congestion in the Capital - what is the answer?
Congestion on the Capital's roads has been a hot topic in recent weeks.
A new report published earlier this week revealed London to not only be the UK's most congested City - but the 2nd most in Europe (after Moscow) and 7th in the world!
The Inrix report suggested that the Capital's drivers spent an average of 73 hours stuck in traffic during peak hours last year - with congestion costing each driver around £2,000 - more than twice the national average.
Also in the news this week was Sadiq Khan's announcement that a new levy on London’s most polluting vehicles - similar to the congestion charge - will be introduced from 23 October.
So my question to you is: what is being done in London's Borough to encourage people to ditch the car - in particular the most pollutant ones - and take up different forms of active/green travel?
I'm sure other practitioners across the Capital would be interested to hear.
More reliable public transport would be a start!
Twice this week I have had to use public transport and, through past experience, I've allowed double the time for the journeys as there's always something going wrong, especially on the London Underground: signal failure, signal stuck on red, train breakdown, engineering works, stations shut due to lack of staff, passenger taken ill on a train, someone who has thrown themselves in front of a train etc etc.
Even though I have a Freedom Pass, allowing me free travel on public transport, I always use my car for the commute to work, a journey of just over eleven miles, which can often take over an hour due to road works, hold ups or heavy traffic. However, I much prefer to be sitting warm and snug in my car, listening to the radio or a CD, than standing in the cold and rain waiting for an overcrowded bus or train and probably there are very many likeminded people doing the same as me.